Concrete form



W. 5. DUNHAM CONCRETE FORM Filed March 51, 1921 2 Sheet s-Sheet 2 FREE,

WIN/E6855 g m. I .4 I

@Mmmw Patented Aug. ll, i923.

hlltt tdtl WILLIAM s. nonrmin, or srInnrsvrrL-E. PENNSYLVANIA.

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Application filed March S1,- 921. Eerial No. 457,400.

To all whom it may concern: 7 I

Be it known that T, WILLIAM DUNHAM, a citizen of the United States, and resi dent of Sharpsvile, iii-the county of ldercer and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and.- useful Improvement in Concrete Forms, of which the following is a .speeificzn tion. I

This invention relates to concrete forms. More particularly t relatesto such structures adapted to form a comparatively thin wall of concrete, and to ineansfor continu-- ously, or intern ittently,iraising such forms, in order that fluid concreteniay be continuously poured onto the top of the wall being formed. The object is to provide a form and lifting apparatus whichwill permit the continuous building upof a concrete wall, without the necessity of tearing down, re building or extending the form molding the walls. another objectis to provide means for passing girders, sashes, etc, without breaking the form.

The many uses and advantages of the inventionwill appear morefully in the fol lowing specification.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic plan View of my form applied to a wall such as of a small dwelling house, or the foundation thereof; Fig. 2 is a verticalpartial section on the line TTH, Fig. 1, showing details of the hoisting apparatus; Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial plan view of portion of the form; Fig. a is an enlarged side elevation of a portion of the form; Fig. 5 is a vertical section on theline V-JV of Fig. l; and Fig. 6 is an enlarged partial plan view showing details of the hoisting apparatus and connection of the shafts used therewith. 7

In building concrete walls it is necessary to set up a form to mold the concrete while it sets. This ordinarily consists of two plain smooth walls set at a distance apart equal to the'thickness of the wall that is to be built. The usual way of doing this is to build these walls of wood, supporting them by exterior braces and possibly by connecting wires, then to fill in the space between these two wooden members with liquid concrete. After the form has been filled it is allowed to stand for a certain time until the cement has set, when the-formsare torn down and rebuilt above that portion of the wallwhich has been so formed. This opera tion is continued by successivesteps until the wall has been built to the required height. The tearing down and building up operations are expensive, resulting in gradual destruction of the lumber that is used, and in addition the walls are some times defective on a count of the new concrete not making an adequate bond with that which has previously been laid. Metal forms have been used, but, so far as I know, have al.- ways been put into position, filled with con- :rete which is allowed to set, then removed, r'aisedto a new height, refilled, etc.

The present invention provides an allnietal construction which may be retained in place by the wall which i being built, no

' exterior braces being necessary, and provides means for continuously, or intermittently, lifting such 1011118 as fast as the new concrete is poured in and sets, so that the build ing operation may be carried on continuously. That is to say, without any loss of time due to removal or raising of the forms.

In Fig. 1, which illustrates diagrammatically a form adapted to mold the entire outer wall of a building, a motor 1 is illustra -d. Thi drives a shaft 2, which is connected through a series of gears, not illustrated, to a chain 3, which drivesa sprocket 4i, keyed on the end of a shaft 5. This shaft 5 extends along one entire side of the building, and is positioned substantially over the middle portion of the wall that is to be built. The shaft is supported at appropriate points by'bearings' 6. carried on extensions 7 from supporting pillars 8, which are seated upon the earth, or some other fixed support, independ nt of the molding form itself. A number of universaljointst) are provided in the shaft 5,.which also carries at its end near the sprocket t, a beveled gear 10, which meshes with a similar gear 11, keyed on the end of a shaft 12, which is similar to the shaft 5 first referred to. At the other end of the shaft 12 thereis a similar gear 13, meshing with a gear 14, on the end of a similar shaft 15, which extends along the entire side of the frame. This shaft 15 carries at its other end a similar beveled gear 16 meshing with a gear 17 on the end of a similar shaft 18, extending along the adjacent wall.

The shaft 5 carries at the end opposite the point where it is driven a beveled gear 19, meshingwith a similar gear 20, on shaft 21, which extends along the side of the frame. The shaft 21 is similarly, connected through struction that is being carried on.

' and a cooperating serie of similar plates" beveled gears 22 and 23 to a similar shaft 24 extending along the last side of the form. A sufficient number of the supportsS are provided to carry the trains of shafting above described and to support them. the corners, these supports 8 have lateral braces 30, and the intermediate supports 8 I iron 51 is riveted, and the adjacent plates are joined together-by means of bolts 52 extending through the sides of these angles,

as clearly'illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4:. In

termediate the ends of the plates 50, and on the external sides thereof are riveted other angle irons 53.- These have three or more holes 54 in the portions that extend above the upper edge of the plates 50. These extensions may be of any desired length, according to the particular con- It is material, however, that the holes 5% be situated at a material distance apart since the;

outer wall made up of plates 50, and the inner wall made up of plates 5O are spaced apart and retained in fixed relative position by means of two braces 56 and '57, which extend between a pair of the projecting angles 58, situated on the exterior side of two of the plates which are in position to form the side of a section of the concrete wall. This is clearly illustrated in Fig. 5.. It will be understood that a series of.

plates bolted together at their adjacent ends form the entire outer wall of the form,

' 50 form the entire inner wall, as illustrated inFig. 3. The angles 53 are so spaced on the plates that they always occur in pairs,

, on the exterior sides of the plates 50 and 50, in exactly opposite positions, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5.

The universal joints 9 are used at fre-v quent intervals, so that small variations in the alignment of the shafting are immaterial. 1

The use and operation is as follows: V

V A series of plates 50 are placed end-to end,lwith their terminal angle irons lying of this apparatus on the outside, and the latter are bolted to gether, so as to form in eifecta single plate extending entirely around the spacewhich is to be filled with the concrete to form a wall of'the desired shape and dimensions. 7

other series of similar plates '50 is likewise bolted together, and positionedinside 'the' first series at the required distance, which is.

the thickness of the wall that is to bemade. .The two serie of plates are then connected together and the spacing is determined and made permanent by means of the braces 56 and 57, placed between each of the coop crating pairs of angle members 53. It will be observed that these braces are of considerable size, so asto be entirely rigid; i .They are preferably made up-of hollow plpe members having terminal flanges 60fat' their ends. Bolts extend throughthe pipes and are, secured at their end'soutside the angle iron members by nuts '61. By this 'con f 7 struction the braces may-be removed with;

out spreading. the plates supp nuts 61 clamp the. angles rigidly to the brace, as clearly illustrated in 5. The

two braces 56 .and 57, when clampedin position'asillustrated determine the. s aci'n 3 b of the plates50,and prevent these members from spreading apart under pressure of concrete that is poured therebetween.- 7

After the inner. and outer wall forms have been placed in position asillustrated V 'in Fig. 1,'conforming to the shape of the wall that is to be built, the supports 8 are set up, with the shafts 5, 12, 15,18, 24,

and 21 carried thereon, and the motor is connected to thisshafting through the chain 3. The hoisting chains 41 are attached by loops 65 to the braces 57, as illustratediat the left of Fig. 2. i

Then fluid concrete until it is partly filled. Preferably the con crete mixture is added continuously through a ,spout, which passes at a uniform speed.

around the wall depositing a thin layer of concrete. By thetime several inches of this have been uniformly laid all the way around, 7 v

the bottom of it is strong enough to bear "the weight. of additional concrete to be added, andstrong enough to maintain ts is poured into theform p molded structure; -Then the motor. may be started, and the entire frame raised slowly and continuously, fluid concrete beingicorr istantly added in thin layers to the top of the wall, at thesame rate that the form is hoiste'd. ffleration may be carried on, andthe wall will By this means a continuous opbe builtmuch faster than with the use of forms which have to be torn down atthe' end of each filling. Although fluid concrete is referred to throughout this specification,

it is to be understood that I may use the ordinary mortar like, or semi-drymixture,

tamping it into. place hand. The principle. is the same.

When'the concreteisito be built past cross girders, beams, window frames,

or;tlielike', an extra'brace may be 'pu t into 7 the middle position'shown'in Fig; 5, that 1s,

the extension has passed above the girder or frame, then the brace is replaced in the upper hole, the middle one removed and the form lifted until the girder comes in contact with the lower brace 56. The middle one is then replaced and the lower one removed, thus always holding the form in rigid position b two braces until it has been pulled above the girder, when the braces may be replaced in their normal position in the upper and lower holes. By this construction I am enabled to continuously build my walls past cross girders, window frames or the like, which are necessarily positioned in the path of the form. It is not necessary with this construction to tear down the form or to make any special change in order to pass such obstructions.

Manifestly, it is not necessary to use this apparatus so as to continuously lift the forms, but they inay'be filled, allowed to set, and then hoisted a distance slightly less than the depth of the form, refilled, etc.

Even when used in this way the apparatus has distinct advantages, but the chief value lies in its capacity for continuously forming and building a concrete wall.

By this continuous process, even after the form has been lifted the concrete is still fresh enough just below the form to give it a trowel finish, but stiff enough to hold its shape.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for molding concrete walls comprising two metal plates spaced apart the width of the wall to be made, said plates having attached to their exterior sides upright members extending above the upper edges of the plates, said extensions in that portion above the plates having three or more pairs of aligned perforations therein, and two or more removable cross members adapted to engage corresponding pairs of perforations whereby to hold the plates accurately spaced apart in vertical relation while permitting the removal of one of said cross members.

2. Apparatus for building concrete walls comprising two series of detachable connecting metal plates adapted to form the sides of a wall, two or more vertical angle iron members attached to the exteriors of said plates and extending above the upper edge thereof, said extensions being oppositely positioned on cooperating pairs of plates and having three or more horizontally aligned perforations therein, and a plurality of removable cross members adapted to rigidly engage the said extensions by means of the aligned perforations therein, whereby to hold the plates in accurately spaced relation, and means to raise the said plates without detaching more than one of the cross members at any one time.

3. Apparatus for molding concrete walls comprising two metal plates adapted to; form the sides of a wall, oppositely placed upright members rigidly attached to the exterior sides of the said plates and extend ing above the upper edge thereof, three or more horizontally aligned perforations in each of said extensions above the edge of the plates, two cross members adapted to be rigidlybut removably attached to said extensions by engagement with similarly positioned perforations in said extensions, and means to raise the apparatus as a whole.

I 4-. Apparatus for molding concrete walls comprising a series of plates detachably connected to each other at their ends and forming the outer wall of a form, a series of sim ilar plates detachably connected to each other and forming the inner wall of the form, spacing means for said plates comprising upward extensions therefrom, with connecting bars extending between said upward extensions above the upper edges of. the plates, a line of driven shafting extending above the formand supported thereabove, chain and sprocket connections from said shafting to the said upward extensions, and means to rotate the shafting whereby to lift the form.

5. Apparatus for molding concrete walls comprising a series of plates detachably connected to each other at their ends and forming the outer wall of a form, a series of similar plates detachably connected to each other and forming the inner wall of the form, spacing means for said plat-es comprising upward extensions therefrom with three or more oppositely disposed sets of perforations in upward extensions, and three or more connecting bars being adapted to be shifted vertically to different sets of said perforations, whereby to permit the passage of obstructions in the upper path of the form, and means to lift the form as a whole. a

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

WILLIAM S. D'UNHAM.

Witness E, A. TURNER.

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